Public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 5 to rezone property at former West Bend Brewery building

Dec. 2, 2017 – West Bend, WI – There will be a public hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5 regarding a request to rezone land on N. Main Street that includes the old West Bend Brewery building along with the strip of other properties to the north.

Bob Bach from P2 Development is planning on razing the buildings for a 99 unit, three-story apartment building. Local businesses that would be affected include RT’s Speed Shop, Ray’s Shoes, Pruett’s Floor Covering, Casa Guadalupe and the cleaning-supply shop on the far north end.

During the November Plan Commission meeting Bach unveiled some preliminary drawings of street-level apartments that had a “row-house feel;” upper level apartments would have balconies.

Some local business leaders are asking whether Bach could redesign his proposal to include retail on the first level and apartments above. Bach has said, “Commercial is pretty tough to do and it would command a pretty high rent.”

Bach addressed a number of concerns including trying to refurbish or reuse the current structure.

“We looked hard at the existing structure, we had been through it and there’s a lot of neat things historically per se,” said Bach. “There are parts of the original brewery but it’s been added onto many, many times and it’s very restrictive on what you could do with the building.”

Other items Bach discussed….

“We try to create a sense of community in our buildings and have a lot of in-house amenities.”

“We build them and manage them ourselves and we have a sense of pride in the community.”

In regard to possible first-floor retail and the rest being residential. “We don’t get involved in that,” said Bach. “Commercial is pretty tough to do and it would command a pretty high rent.”

“The current configuration would have 109 indoor parking spots and one thing we do is we don’t charge anything additional for indoor parking.”

Plan Commission member Jed Dolnick was initially not in favor of the project as it was designed. Bach confirmed the sketch he presented was a very rough draft.

There was a suggestions about asking for a traffic study, however nothing was confirmed by the Plan Commission.

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